[private] in dreams

[Risa]

Risa cannot focus on her surroundings. They are blurred together, only the faintest sense of stone walls and a deep murderous sky stretching ahead. She can tell that she has changed too and that is how she knows she is in a nightmare. Her body had carried her through life and death, it was the one sure thing she had in her life. Even when the shimmering dapples had appeared she had still felt the same, just a little shinier. This change is complete. It feels wrong and wretched as if she is wearing someone else's skin on top of her own. She doesn't know what else to do but to go forward with the knowledge that at some point she will wake up. It quickly becomes obvious that she is not alone. There is a pale figure ahead who she first thinks is the stallion she had been checking on. But as they both walk down the corridor towards each other she realizes it is not. It can't be. The horse before her has no face. The head is smooth and featureless. It is white skin, not hair or fur, stretched tight across bones and muscles, and there are gleaming white talons where hooves should be. The instinct to run does not come over her. Instead, she becomes sure that she just needs to get past this creature and she will be free. It is just a dream. She cannot hurt what is not real.